Last week, the Detroit Free Press published an investigation detailing what happens to properties that are foreclosed upon because of delinquent taxes. It is a complicated tale with a now-predictable ending: previously well-kept houses deteriorate into blighted eyesores.
Reporter Allie Gross wrote the story. She joined Stateside to discuss the cascading negative effects of out-of-town real estate speculators buying up tax-foreclosed properties.
“When we think of the emptying out of Detroit neighborhoods, you think of white flight, or you think of disinvestment in the 80s and 90s, or you think of the subprime mortgage crisis," Gross said. "You don’t necessarily think of the past five years.”
Listen above to hear Gross discuss her reporting on how speculators drove up blight in Detroit neighborhoods, as well as the lack of regulation on predatory rent-to-own land contracts.
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